Post on 25-Sep-2020
Preparing Your SaaS Business for Funding
About SaaSOptics
Tim McCormickCEO
About SaaS Capital
52CompaniesFunded
$595MofEquityValueCreated
100%SuccessRate
Todd GardnerFounder and Managing Director
Agenda
1. Setting the stage: Seed, vs. Series A/B/C and debt.2. Financial Data and Benchmarks3. Important Metrics and Benchmarks4. Q & A
Survey Question
What type of funding will you be preparing for next?
• Seed• Series A• Series B or beyond• Debt
Setting the Stage: What’s Important
Seed Series A Series B
You
The Story
The Data
The Story
An investor needs to understand what the business actually does very early in the process.
• What problem do you solve and for whom?
• What’s the “use case”
• Use plain English, not marketing gibberish
The StoryWhat not to say:“We are a global technology company transforming the way large corporations and their thousands of suppliers process payments. We unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in value while improving efficiency and delivering total visibility through WAS.”
What to say:“We provide workflow software that streamlines invoicing and payment processing for large companies.”
Financial Presentation
Historical financials do matter. Whether GAAP or cash, they provide a consistent set of rules by which to measure the company.
Historical Financial Data (What a SaaS P&L should look like)
Tips
• Break out recurring vs non-recurring revenue
• Break out services from licensing revenue and COGS
• Avoid one simple expense line called “salaries”
• Customer Success may need to be split between COGS and Sales
• Do not capitalize software development expenses (fight auditor on this one)
• Move to GAAP at a minimum when over $3 million in revenue and/or billing in advance
Jan Feb Mar April MayRevenue
Subscription Software Revenue 350,000$ 360,000$ 385,000$ 370,000$ 375,000$ Professional Services 40,000$ 35,000$ 20,000$ 55,000$ 40,000$
Total Revenue 390,000$ 395,000$ 405,000$ 425,000$ 415,000$
Cost of GoodsThird Party and/or Transaction Fees 3,500$ 3,600$ 3,850$ 3,700$ 3,750$ Hosting Expenses 8,750$ 9,000$ 9,625$ 9,250$ 9,375$ Customer Support 12,300$ 14,000$ 14,500$ 13,000$ 13,000$ Internal Engineering Support 4,100$ 4,300$ 4,000$ 3,900$ 4,300$ Professional Services 32,000$ 30,000$ 35,000$ 33,000$ 34,000$
Total CoGS 60,650$ 60,900$ 66,975$ 62,850$ 64,425$
Gross Profit 329,350$ 334,100$ 338,025$ 362,150$ 350,575$ Gross Margin 84% 85% 83% 85% 84%
Operating ExpensesSales 145,000$ 125,000$ 122,000$ 135,000$ 140,000$ Marketing 87,000$ 62,000$ 89,000$ 79,000$ 90,000$ Product Development 135,000$ 130,000$ 128,000$ 133,000$ 135,000$ General and Administrative 56,000$ 71,000$ 73,000$ 81,000$ 83,000$
Total Operating Expenses 423,000$ 388,000$ 412,000$ 428,000$ 448,000$
Net Income (93,650)$ (53,900)$ (73,975)$ (65,850)$ (97,425)$
Historical Financial Data (What a SaaS P&L should look like)
Blog Post: What Should a SaaS Income Statement Look Like?
The “One Chart” and GAAP vs. CashGAAP Financials Cash Financials
The SaaS Perspective (the other key chart)
Growth and Margin Benchmarks
Is your company growing faster than others its size?
How does your company spend its money compared to others?
Growth and Margin Benchmarks
Is your company growing faster than others its size?
Compared to SaaSOptics’ customer base
104
87
72
110
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Under $1M $1M - $5M $5M - $10M Over $10M
Med
ian
Gro
wth
Rat
e
Annual Revenue
Long-term Fundraising Projections
• Avoid the obvious “Hockey Stick” where growth suddenly accelerates
• Not that important at Series A or earlier
• Relevant mostly from a near term cash usage perspective
Cash Forecasting
Metrics
The SaaS business model has dozens of different metrics to track performance. Understand how the metrics work, and track the ones that fit your business.
Polling Question
Which SaaS performance metrics are you currently tracking?
• MRR/ARR• Churn & Retention• CLV/CAC• Cohorts• ACV
What Metrics are Important
✓ Cash Burn & Runway✓ # of Customers✓ New and Total ARR
✓ Net New ARR ↑✓ Pipeline Metrics✓ Churn & Retention Rates✓ LTV/CAC✓ Cash Projections
✓MQL → SQL → Closed/Won✓ Rep Win Rates✓ New ARR by Rep✓ ACV Growth✓ Expansion & Contraction ARR
The SaaS Metrics that MatterSaaS Key Performance Indicators you should start tracking
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
Annual Contract Value (ACV)
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Churn
Expansion Revenue
Cohort Analysis
Retention Metrics (“static pool” approach)
Net Revenue Retention:Focusing just on customers who were active this time last year, how much revenue did they generate this month compared to the revenue they generated one year ago?
Gross Revenue Retention:Same as above, but this month’s revenue per customer cannot exceed that from the same month prior year. (Eliminates up-sell, price increases, and organic growth.)
Sample CalculationRevenue in: Revenue in: Adjusted Revenue in:
Customers in July 2017 Jul-17 Jul-18 Jul-18
Customer A 1,000$ 1,000$ 1,000$ Customer B 2,000$ 2,250$ 2,000$ Customer C 3,000$ 2,500$ 2,500$ Customer D 4,000$ 4,750$ 4,000$ Customer E 5,000$ -$ -$ Customer F 2,000$ 7,250$ 2,000$ Customer G 7,000$ 7,000$ 7,000$ Customer H 8,000$ 9,750$ 8,000$ Customer I 9,000$ -$ -$ Customer J 3,000$ 5,000$ 3,000$ Customer K 11,000$ 11,000$ 11,000$ Customer L 12,000$ 14,750$ 12,000$
67,000$ 65,250$ 52,500$ Net Retention Rate Gross Retention Rate
97.4% 78.4%
Monthly Retention Tracking
Retention Benchmarks
CAC to LTVBe careful calculating LTV if you have high retention rates.
What is a Good CAC to LTV?
Summary1. Make it easy for investors to understand what your
business does2. Provide clean historical financial statements:
• Conform to “typical” SaaS financial reporting
• Transition to GAAP sooner rather than later
3. Know a lot about your retention: gross, net, monthly, annually, etc.
4. Explore and track other SaaS operating metrics that work for you
Polling Question
Would you like more information from us?
• I’d like to hear more about SaaS Capital
• I’d like to hear more about SaaSOptics
Tim McCormickCEO
Todd GardnerFounder and Managing Director
Questions?
Subscription Management Made for Growing SaaS Businesses
The Leading Provider of Long-Term Committed Credit Facilities to SaaS Companies
SaaS Capital is best able to assist companies with the following attributes: • Sell a SaaS-based solution • $250,000, or above, in MRR • History of gross renewals greater than 85% • Headquarters in U.S., Canada, or the United Kingdom • Revenue growth above 15% per year